Fifth phase of Upazila election

The fifth and the final phase of the UZ elections is going to be held tomorrow. We had noticed with consternation the incremental rise in the incidence of violence and deaths. There were random casting of false votes, booth capture and ballot box stuffing. And the political parties had wantonly indulged in all manner of electoral code violation.
The CEC in charge was remiss when he expressed his satisfaction at the way the fourth round of UZ elections was held. The facts belie his assertion. Even now the EC has not been proactive in addressing pre-poll violence and violation of electoral codes in many of the 74 upazilas. Reportedly, in some of these upazilas where polling will take place tomorrow there has been open intimidation of political opponents, so much so that people are unwilling to be polling agents of contenders standing against government supported candidates. We know of no suo moto action by the EC to address, let alone curb, the transgressions.
In this context, the EC will do well to take into cognizance the report of SUJAN which, among other things, stated that the law enforcing agencies had failed to curb violence in the fourth phase, and that the EC had completely failed in its task to provide an environment for a free and fair election.
We would hope that the EC would employ all necessary means to provide the voters the opportunity to cast their vote freely this time in all the 74 upazilas.